Andrew Romanoff, the Democratic challenger in the 6th Congressional District this year, thanks his supporters during his concession speech Nov. 4, 2014, at Moe’s Original Bar B Que in Aurora. (Brent Lewis, The Denver Post)

That would be against the advice of some Colorado political observers and Democratic activists, who told The Denver Post in a story this week that Romanoff ought to consider stepping back from politics for a while. He’s lost two hard-fought races in a row.

Also Thursday, another potential Democratic candidate emerged in suburban Denver’s 6th Congressional District, centered in Aurora, seen as hyper-competitive since the latest round of redistricting in 2011.

Former state Rep. Edward Casso, an Adams County politician who served three terms in the House through 2012, said in a tweet that he’d formed an exploratory committee.

In a move that Republicans say is ominous for Democratic challenger Andrew Romanoff, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee no longer plans to spend $1.4 million on ad time it reserved on Denver TV stations for the campaign’s final two weeks.

Instead, the DCCC is focusing its money on Democratic incumbents newly under attack by outside Republican groups, which sunk $4.2 million on new ad buys Thursday. But the DCCC still is supporting Romanoff’s challenge of U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman next week by chipping in money to expand the campaign’s own ad buy, the DCCC and Romanoff’s campaign say, and by supporting its field operations.

The DCCC says it still views the race as winnable for Romanoff — a rare Democratic challenger with an opportunity to flip a Republican seat — and already has spent a lot to support him. But the obvious upshot of its decisions is that he’s now lower on the DCCC’s priority list.

“National Democrats have clearly given up on Andrew Romanoff,” suggested Tyler Q. Houlton, a spokesman for the DCCC’s counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committeee.

UPDATE: Added information about Amendment 59, a 2008 effort that Andrew Romanoff supported to repeal TABOR spending limits. The NRCC did not cite that failed effort in its ad or in a spokesman’s comments, but it would have supported the group’s argument better.

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, left, and Democrat Andrew Romanoff smile at the start of a their first debate in August. (Brennan Linsley, Associated Press)

The air war in the race between U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman and Democrat Andrew Romanoff is stepping up a notch or three Tuesday as their parties’ campaign committees begin blasting attack ads on Denver TV stations. They are the first ads aired by the party committees in the race, one of the most hotly contested House contests in the nation.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says its anti-Coffman ad is “part of a nearly $1 million ad buy,” with more likely on the way. The National Republican Congressional Committee says its new anti-Romanoff ad cost $300,000 to place on Denver broadcast stations this week, part of an overall $3.7 million buy through the fall — the most it’s investing in any race so far.

The spin artists at both outfits have been hard at work crafting ads that, while based on actual positions or events, make key distortions.

UPDATE:Added mention that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will be attending a Romanoff fundraiser this week.

Democrat Andrew Romanoff’s second TV ad strikes a mostly positive tone, focusing on his support for expanding the availability and funding for Pell grants and federal student loans, while reining in interest rates, to help students deal with soaring tuition costs. But the challenger to U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman in Colorado’s 6th Congressional District gets in a dig at House Republicans. He says making education more affordable would be his priority — “instead of giving tax break to millionaires and big oil companies.”

Democrat Andrew Romanoff kicked off the direct ad war against Rep. Mike Coffman Monday by airing the first candidate TV spot in the well-financed 6th Congressional District race, one of the highest-profile contests in the country this year. In the ad, the former Colorado House speaker touts a record of balanced budgets, with legislators working across the aisle to make tough choices. The contrast to Congress’ partisan gridlock is clear.

Of course, as Romanoff points out, the state constitution requires a balanced budget each year. He ends the spot by saying “it ought to be the law in Washington, too.” Romanoff has said he supports a balanced-budget amendment.

The simple 30-second spot will air on broadcast and cable TV stations as well as online, the campaign says.

A billboard comparing Miklosi, Obama and Ahmadinejad on display in the Denver metro area.

What do Democrats Ed Perlmutter, Joe Miklosi, Sal Pace and President Obama have in common with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

According to their political opponents, all are cohorts in opposition to America’s energy independence, and as a result they are appearing on 28 billboards in the Denver metro-area and Grand Junction. Each billboard includes the slogan, “Higher gas prices, yes! U.S. Energy Independence, no!”

The billboards are the creation of the right-leaning group, Compass Colorado, who say the advertising effort is meant to highlight “President Barack Obama and his allies’ opposition to American energy independence.”

In a news release, Houlton says Miklosi and Pace have long records supporting onerous regulations on the oil and gas industry.

“It’s no surprise that Coffman and shady special interests are already letting loose with this kind of unhinged rhetoric,” said Miklosi’s campaign manager Joe Hamill. “After all, everyone knows that Mike Coffman does exactly what Big Oil and the other special interests want.”

Politics aside, the ads have some upset that anyone would compare the president and state and federal leaders to Ahmadinejad.

A new conservative political attack group is going after its first Democratic candidate, state Sen. Evie Hudak of Westminster.

In a TV ad campaign that will begin Friday and run 10 days, Compass Colorado blasts Hudak for her support of Proposition 103, the nearly $3 billion tax increase measure for education. Hudak, a former teacher and member of the State Board of Education, was already in a highly competitive Senate district, but with a new District 19 drawn by the Colorado Reapportionment Commission, Hudak’s district would be reordered with a dead-even split.

Three top legislative staffers are leaving the Capitol to join Scott McInnis’ gubernatorial campaign, another sign of the influence that state Minority Leader Josh Penry wields in his former foe’s operation.

Penry dropped out of the race last November and endorsed McInnis. Since then, he has worked tirelessly on his fellow Grand Junction Republican’s behalf, including bringing the former congressman up to speed on state issues.

“Scott is positioning himself for a tough race in the fall and trying to hire the best talent,” Penry said today. “I think a lot of the best and the brightest are folks we had managed to snare on our legislative team.”

At the same time, McInnis has brought on a new campaign manager, Nancy Hopper, who ran his first congressional campaign in 1992 and is the daughter of former lawmaker Sally Hopper.

Asked about the staffing changes, Hopper said, “We have had a really lean staff so we just needed to make sure that we’re out in the field earning every vote.”

Her hire raised political eyebrows because last year McInnis had announced he had hired former legislative staffer George Culpepper as his campaign manager.

Culpepper told The Denver Post a few weeks ago he has formed his own campaign consulting firm. Hopper started Jan. 4.

“I think Scott wanted some fresh eyes,” Hopper said. “I think he probably wanted to have a woman on the team, too.”

Democratic political consultant Steve Welchert said Penry is “closer to and more familiar with the current talent pool than McInnis, who has been out of that sphere for a while.”

“But make no mistake,” Welchert said, “(McInnis) has to scale up much faster against Hick than he ever had to against Ritter.”

Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter earlier this month unexpectedly dropped his re-election bid, and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper announced he is seeking the nomination.

McInnis is the frontrunner in the GOP primary against Evergreen businessman Dan Maes.

The three legislative staffers slated to join McInnis’ campaign are:

– Senate GOP chief of staff Mac Zimmerman, a former staffer for U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo.

– House GOP spokesman Tyler Q. Houlton, who worked for Tancredo’s and U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman’s congressional offices.

– Policy director Dustin Zvonek, who served as Coffman’s congressional campaign director in 2008. Zvonek is Penry’s point man on the complex pension reform measure; Penry calls him a “superstar” in the GOP.

Asked who will take over the trio’s duties, Penry said that still is being worked out.

“The stakes of the election are so dramatic,” he said, that he wanted to make sure McInnis had the best people on his staff.

At this point, it’s unclear when the three will leave but Penry said it’s likely at different times.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.